Archive for the ‘the doozer’ Category

ha, floppy own-brand tortilla chips, peanuts and Lilt and vodka (just a very small medical dash for my damaged tropical child) for breakfast. Happy New Year. Can’t sleep so let my betters rest. A guitar string just pinged on the wall so I must be Accompanied.

I don’t know if you use Discogs but I do and I like it. I’m not one of those psychedelic revolutionaries that acts like a soul-smarm priest who’s pretending he hasn’t got anything in his underpants. I have baby, it’s here. I believe in the meta-fundamentals of the market. I believe in the Big Deal, it is holy to me. If a has it, and b wants it, then so be it and let’s haggle the fucker across. We are good creatures, don’t get me wrong, and people forget it and then get all pious when someone helps a brother out as if it isn’t written into us like hunger, violence and sorrow, but in that sense humans are alright and can’t help but help. Ants help ants, wolves howl for the chase, Biiiig Issue etc. Yeah, but fuck the Old Ways and Record Collector and that. My The Best Of Abba used to say £40 in the Book, but, uh, the internets is grease for human souls and the funny thing about capitalism, cos all human history is irony, is that which is finessed is also almost complete & thus over, man. What I mean is the web is The Final Auction, and that goes for eBay as much as Tahrir square or whatever. OK.

So, if you’re still with me, or ever were, then here is a racing tip for the lowest common denominator written on a peice of internet paper. Our pal Si, you shall know him by his name up there, has got at least one copy of Tripel 004 going at £2. Now I don’t cast aspersions on Simon, because of what I’ve said above, and because he is someone who both likes to live simply and also used to run an online shop, and since the two are incompatible the former will inevitably win out over the latter, thank goodness fror his sake. Tripel 004?, I hear you ask in your unripe foolishness, like dogs questioning the unlikely appearance of the Ace in the great fucking help of the sleight of hand! Well, way back when when there was no history of that to make a mad old man tell it like this now, yer Dave, my fucking Dave, in his Gold-souled wish for something more meaningful than what’s measured in money, stumped up for the Split. A thousand fucking pounds. Mastered by the fucking Faroe Goodiepal on a reel-to-reel (he says) according to his special specifications. Dubplates & Mastering. A picture disc. Designed by Animals On Wheels. Me half-cut in an amusment arcade in Padstow throwing it down like a Maori warrior or some PNG shit. It’s all fucking grist. Two Thousand & Five, Dave on the concrete tip, the audio derive through the raw tripped-out beauty of sound, where even TV cookshows can get souffled into something just-so that the absence of words leaves your dumb face in a squinch whilst your mind races for HELP. You know James Ferraro? Well, it’s not like that music-wise but it isn’t just the chefs. I feel this strongly. There’s a blankness, an overloadedness of symbols, that was in the recipe. Play the records side by side. Mix them together perhaps. And yeah, it’s half a giraffe of probably the best thing I ever did or will. I’m on Discogs, and you can buy the CD-R off me for not-a-penny-less than 5 quid, and it might be the complete thing, but that record is All Gold, solid fucking gold, and the only reason you don’t know it is because nobody told you, but I’m telling you now.

So, what I’m asking you to do, is please buy the record off Simon. I think the market value is more like £4.50, at least, so you’d be getting a good deal. We still live under a capitalist system, but this is a time of renewal, traditionally. Why not make it your first symbolic purchase of 2012? Please.

Yesterday I was in the Cat’s Protection League doing dumb things like wondering if I should spend £7 pounds on a hugely outsized cream-coloured kind of, uh… ornate designer bling streetwear jacket and just about resisting but then hardly wondering at all whether i should spend 50p a pop on some old 78s of Maori music and a version of Onward Christian Soldiers and a sweet looking 10″ of some Polish spoken word. Whilst I was in there I hear some voices outside, and in my nosey way I clock this Mill Road Character woman (who I can always scent a bit of a story about because she has these fiercely intelligent eyes and a way about her that just suggests she’s a bit of a wrong ‘un) and another, older female companion. Anyway, Wrong Lady is saying something like “How much is that? That’s nice that is. Have you got four pounds on you you could lend me?” and I have to say I’m immediately thinking the worst of her. Sadly, it turns out I’m not entirely on the wrong track of the Wrong because a minute or some later she comes up to the counter with a cat-transporter-box thing and says to the Cat Woman “Do you know how much this is? Is it two pounds? Is it two pounds is it? Cat Woman smells a rat and asks her co-worker out the back how she put on the item and quickly the chancer-lady starts going “Or was it… four? Was it two, or four? No, no that’s fine. I’ve got a Burmese, see?” As soon as she leaves the cat persons start muttering about how this isn’t the first time.
Then I go into the RSPCA and I’m buying a Dictators 12″ and this short, intense-looking spoddy chap asks the manageress in posh, clipped tones “Have you any Pevsners?” And when she looks a bit in askance he just reiterates “Pevsners”. “Everything we have is on the shelves…?” she attempts, and then as she kind of gives up and walks off he clarifies slightly by saying “I’m looking for the County Durham one…”. Anyway, I know I was in animal shops but it all felt a bit anthropologically very Cambridge indeed.

Me and Simon had this conversation the other day about the Japanese-looking chap who is always on Mill Road and apparently has been bothering our separate curious minds. He’s always alone, and although quite neatly turned out and well-groomed has slightly well-worn elements on his clothing, like where the backpack he habitually carries has rubbed into the fabric of his jacket etc. He is often seen smoking and drinking outside local pubs and cafes and usually carries an umbrella. Apparently Simon has mentioned him in his lyrics somewhere. Anyway the conversation with Simon put me in mind of one I’d had with my brother about how sensitive observers of the human condition are often spurred to travel to foreign lands not so much out of an adventurous urge to encounter the new but rather to escape the maddeningly familiar, and in particular the banality of the background noise that is immediately apprehensible as a native. My brother used the example of his recent trip to Colombia and how shitty commercial radio there was nothing like the awfulness of its UK equivalent. We speculated that this Japanese exile was merely resting his troubled intellect in what for us was our over-familiar numbingly-crap lowest common denominator British street culture, almost (but not quite, lest it seems like I am getting carried away) like Burroughs and Bowles might have found a kind of nourishing solace in an alien environment like Tangiers or whatever. If I ever get the chance I am going to ask this guy what he is all about. It’s starting to feel like I am obligated in some way, to be honest. Then again, perhaps I should be preserving his psychological ecology, or something, and I should probably just give him a wink and a smile.

First off, the marvellous Russell Taysom has made good on a promise and done one of his joyously dark illustrations of me, here seen feasting on the head of Man From Uranus. To me he’s captured Phil rather better than he has me but then it’s hard to judge a likeness of oneself (perhaps indicative of the distance between subjective and objective realities with regards to ourselves) and as I can’t deny the formless hair and the lines around the eyes and as Syd seemed to think it was pretty obviously me I am overall very chuffed to be the latest to be granted this honour. Besides, as Russell pointed out, Phil is instantly recognizable by his blue skin.

The next cool thing is that I received a copy of the latest album by the Flower-Corsano Duo, which has a nice big Pete Um credit on the back simply because I was pointing my camera towards the stage at The Portland one night. In fact The Doozer did as much as me with helping out with that one. Anyway, big fan of all things Corsano so it feels like a really cool thing to me.

And talking of fandom, it seems my online big-up of unique hip-hop legend Sensational, you know, this one:

might find its way in part into a documentary about the man. I am fucking chuffed about this, no two ways about it.

A great shame cos I know Simon has done a ton of work for this. However, something has been salvaged and it’s a good something:

IT IS WITH DEEP REGRET THAT WE MUST ANNOUNCE THAT
PALIMPSEST FESTIVAL IS CANCELLED

BUT…..

THE SUBLIME FREQUENCIES TOUR WITH OMAR SOULEYMAN AND GROUP DOUEH
IS STILL TAKING PLACE IN CAMBRIDGE ON THE 30th MAY.

The festival was cancelled due to a major overrun of planned works at All Saints Church along with asbestos being found at the church. No alternative venue could be found in Cambridge to accommodate the all day event. Full details on the new show below.

AN EMAIL HAS BEEN SENT TO ALL OF THOSE WHO HAVE PURCHASED TICKETS. Please reply to this email if you have not received an email.

Group Doueh are led by the enigmatic guitar hero Bamaar Salmou, who is known simply as ‘Doueh’ (pronounced: ‘Doo-way’). They are from Dakhla, in the Western Sahara. The group’s sound is unlike anything that you’ve ever heard before. It is a sound that is rooted in the traditional foundations of Sahrawi/Hassania music, but one that is also entirely its own. It shares its roots with the neighboring styles of Mauritanian music, however Group Doueh have managed to transcend the classical limitations of that music with a fiery, independent, and avant approach that incorporates a distinctly pop and rock element that is anomalous in the region. This is a sound that can only come from the land that inspired it. This is the sound of the Sahara desert. It is a searing, meditative, and hypnotic modal sandstorm of note clusters that has been cathartic to anyone who has heard it. Group Doueh have been playing together for over 20 years. The band consists of their leader, Doueh on guitar and tinidit, his wife Halima on vocals and tbal, their son Jamal on organ, and longtime friend Bashiri also on vocals. They had declined several offers from Moroccan, French and Spanish recording labels to release their music. It was not until Sublime Frequencies, after a long search for the music landed them at the man’s house in Dakhla, that Doueh agreed to have his music released for the very first time. Sublime Frequencies & QuJunktions are proud to present Group Doueh’s first ever UK appearance and extended shows in Europe.

OMAR SOULEYMAN

Omar Souleyman is a musical legend from Syria. For the past 15 years, he and his group have emerged as a staple of folk-pop throughout the country, having issued more than five-hundred studio and live-recorded cassette albums which are easily spotted in the shops of any Syrian city.

Hailing from the rural Northeastern city of Ras Al Ain, Souleyman began his musical career in 1994 with a small group of local collaborators that have been with him from the start. The group tirelessly performs concerts throughout Syria and has accepted invitations to perform abroad in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Lebanon.

The myriad musical traditions of the region are evident in their music, which reflect the sounds of Syia, Iraq, Turkey and the sizable Kurdish population. The moods swing from coarse and urgent to dirgy and contemplative in the rugged anthems that comprise Souleyman’s repertoire. Expect the ultimate party music. Omar’s superb and varied vocal stylings feature over high-octane Syrian “Dabke” (the regional folkloric dance music) and a host of other styles. Frantic Arabic keyboard solos provided by the incredible Rizan Sa’id intertwine with reeds, stringed instruments and percussion. Mahmoud Harbi, a long-time collaborator and the man responsible for much of the poetry sung by Souleyman accompanies Omar for an unforgettable onstage collaboration as they perform the Ataba, a traditional form of folk poetry, where Omar’s unaccompanied freestyle “mawal” singing stands in a league of its own.

Sublime Frequencies & QuJunktions are honored to present the Western debut of Omar Souleyman and his group with this UK/European concert tour. This is a rare opportunity to glimpse into Syrian street-level folk-pop – a phenomenon seldom heard in the West in this form, and rarely, if ever, included on the import agenda of worldwide academic musical committees. Experience the genuine sounds of Syria and the Middle East without the condescending polish and shine of much exported “world beat”.

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES & DJ SETS

Sublime Frequencies was founded in 2003 by Alan Bishop, Hisham Mayet, and Richard Bishop. In just over 5 years, the label has produced 35 CDs, 8 DVDs, and 5 LPs.

The projects are divided into four areas of presentation: regional radio collages, field recordings, folk and pop music compilations, and video/film documentaries. Sublime Frequencies is self-motivated, self-financed, and fearless in approach. The world is changing so quickly that it has become apparent that cultures and ideas from less-developed countries will be buried and replaced entirely by the export of western-styled culture unless there are alternative perceptions of the great traditions and hybrids of these traditions that still remotely exist today across the globe.

The productions are not limited to their own archive and expand to the many associates the group correspond and work with who have similar interests. The list of contributors to the label includes Mark Gergis, Robert Millis, Tucker Martine, fm3, Laurent Jeanneau, Carlos Casas, Stuart Ellis, Hicham Chadly, Geoff Hawrylk, and Anla Courtis.

Today’s ‘controlled’ presentation of foreign culture, traditions, and spiritualism in the west is steeped in judgment and spin agenda. SF are presenting some of the greatest expressive music in the world with only one agenda in mind: that it needs to be heard or seen, respected and recognized.

Pete Um is a tape-poet from Cambridge, UK, with sardonic humour, unreliable MD player and a bunch of weird electronic miniatures. When not depressed, he can be a great entertainer. Meanwhile, his music had been boosted by eccentrics such as Ariel Pink. Attempts to define his personality provoke his peers to phrases like…

…Um is an electro-dadaist pop star peddling audio anxiety and monomania from the digital kitchen sink
…Um is the glint in Delia Derbyshire’s eye as she puts Kurt Schwitters and Julian Cope to the razor blade
…Absolute belter of oddball proportions

The Doozer takes adventures into observational sounds and distorted voices with releases on Pickled Egg, Doozer Industries and upcoming on Slowtapes.

UNITARIAN CHURCH HALL

The Unitarian Church Hall is located behind the Unitarian Church on Emmanuel Road, Cambridge. It is 2 minutes from Cambridge Central Drummer Street Bus Station and a 20 min walk from the train station.

There are a number of central car parks near the venue (5-10 min walk). The closest are the Grand Arcade and Adam & Eve Street. Full information on Cambridge car parks here.

Describe your music.
Still can’t do this question. Kinda structureless miniatures of gnostic electronic rock married with metaphysical protest poems. Dada haiku fortune cookie wisdom/Christmas cracker jokes. The pursuit of the ineffable since 1996. Or, to paraphrase Steve Adams’ summarisation: it’s just singing over tapes (of songs that sound like they’ve broken on the way to the speakers).

Which of the other bands on this list do you a) know b) rate c) share members with?
I don’t know The Last Dinosaur, Puncture Repair Kit, The Tupolev Ghost, or Victoria and Jacob, but I know the rest to a greater or lesser extent. Obviously I think all the bands are fabulous and all that but if I was about to be shot and I was allowed to pick one band to play a set in my cell I know I would still smile when Jamie and Andrew (The Vichy Government) shuffled in.

What band/artist should have been on this list, that isn’t?
All my mates that are in bands that you haven’t listed, which I have to say for reasons of diplomacy.

How is your music (if at all) informed by your Cambridgeness?
By osmotic transference. Cambridge appears in my songs now and then, and vice versa.

What has been the best thing your band has achieved, to date?
Puh. Uh… well apart from just getting up and doing it and keeping doing it I suppose I’m proud to have played a lot of gigs over a long time. It’s been nice to play in Europe and have it go well, and it’s great to have done some music that I still feel good about several years down the line. And I’m proud to have produced such a large body or work, even if, as someone once said, they are short songs.

What are your musical aspirations for the future?
I don’t really do aspirational. I would just like to make small runs of records and have similar numbers of people buy them.

Who are your musical influences?
It would be a very long list. Sometimes I think the best musicians sound like themselves though.

What’s good, bad and indifferent about the Cambridge music scene?
It’s a tricky one. I sort of like the localness of being in a band in Cambridge, because there isn’t really a scene in the negative sense of the word. I used to describe myself as a Community Popstar as a jokey comment on Cambridge’s possible insularity and/or my woeful failure to break out of it. There isn’t too much ego or bullshit to being in a band in Cambridge, and audiences are pretty accepting and supporting. The bad thing is that a lot of potential gig-goers are a transient population of students etc, and they may never even make it to The Portland in the first place! Also, you rarely get a sense of energy at Cambridge gigs, or the ones I go to anyway.

Why should we care about you?
You said I should imagine Janet Street-Porter was asking me these questions. To this one I would reply “Shut your teeth, Janet.” Who says I care if you care, even if I do?

Give us the background or an introduction to your track
I like this track because, like some of the best songs, it sort of seemed to almost make itself. I did the music in about 45 minutes and wrote some words about this woman who’d approached me after a gig I’d played the night before to tell me my songs were too short. I have a motto which is “It’s all grist” which means that I would like to think I can co-opt anything for Um purposes. In this case I cheekily provide my attractive critic with her own song, and even though I spent only five minutes in her company I have been told by those who know her well that I captured something about her. Even though there is a sense that the joke is ultimately on the sad musician in the song there is a note of rueful defiance struck by the song’s 1:18 track length.